PeoriaStory

Health system reform event: news release

MEDICAL BANKRUPTCY—HEALTH CARE DEBT EVENT Wednesday, December 2nd, Noon   LEARN: LOCAL AGENCIES WILL DESCRIBE THE DEVASTATING IMPACTS OF HEALTH CARE BANKRUPTCY ON FAMILIES IN THE PEORIA AREA TO THE MEDIA AND THE PUBLIC   SPEAK OUT: THE PUBLIC IS INVITED TO DISCUSS AND RECEIVE INFORMATION ABOUT LOCAL AGENCY SERVICES   At Noon, Wednesday December 2nd at the Contemporary Art Center, 305 SW Water St., Peoria (parking across the street and elevator to second floor), seven local Peoria agencies and individuals will speak out about the devastating impact that medical bankruptcy and debt has on area families.   YWCA of Peoria-- Pam Schubach, Executive Director.   Alzheimer's Association, Central Illinois Chapter -- Alisha Dault- Patient and Family Services Coordinator.   Mental Health Association of Illinois Valley  --  Katie Jones, Executive Director.   Peoria Friendship House of Christian Service -- Barb Hartnett, Executive Director   Liz Ann Gray, with a personal family story.   American Diabetes Association, Professional Representative   Campaign for Better Health Care --  Jim Duffett, Executive Director and Josie Underwood, Downstate Coordinator, as facilitator.   At this time when we have historic health care reform legislation before our U. S. Congress and Senate, we urge the public and media to share their concerns at this public event and news conference.  We know that about ten percent of individuals in our area are uninsured.  Nationally in 2007, about 62% of all bankruptcies were medical bankruptcies.   The Campaign for Better Health Care wants to inform the public about the real impact of the current health care system on people and the organizations that serve them.  We must all contact our elected representatives and urge them to pass real health care reform.   Join your friends and neighbors at Noon on December 2nd, to send a message to our elected representatives that it is time to stop playing politics and solve the health care crisis.   For more information contact:  Joyce Harant, 309-648-3035; jharant@cbhconline.org     Campaign for Better Health Care Central/Statewide 44 East Main St., Suite 414 Champaign, IL 61820-3642 (v) 217-352-5600 (f) 217-352-5688 e-mail: cbhc-cu@cbhconline.org Chicago 1325 S. Wabash, Suite 305 Chicago, IL 60605-2504 (v) 312-913-9449 (f) 312-913-9559 e-mail: cbhc-chi@cbhconline.org Helpline 1-888-544-8271 Website: www.cbhconline.org

Cirque Dreams: Illumination -- good show

PEORIA -- With a non-stop rock/jazz beat, the Broadway show Cirque Dreams: Illumination whirled through the Peoria Civic Center on Nov. 28, part of a national tour.  It's a terrific show, very slick and entertaining.

The Journal Star's preview story aptly described it.  At the same time, a mere newspaper story doesn't do it justice. You have to see the tricks and stunts to believe them. 

This is a 3-ring circus/vaudeville hybrid show, with comedy, magic, singing, dancing and music accompanying the daring acts. 

The evening show received a standing ovation, well deserved. The performances were flawless, the costumes and sets beautifully done. 

One flaw:  there were no programs to identify the fine performers.

And the pricey tickets no doubt kept away many people who would have loved this show.  The evening performance was not sold out.  It should have been.

Why doesn't the Peoria Civic Center offer discount tickets late in the day, as is done in Chicago and New York?  Special group rates also could be offered to groups that otherwise could not afford the tickets.  Children would like this show, but there were few in the audience.

The arts need to continually build audiences, and offering discount tickets is a fine way to encourage attendance.  My husband and I were once grad students, and we once needed discounted tickets to see arts events. Now we gladly buy the best seats.  Those discounted tickets helped us learn to love and appreciate the arts.

   -- Elaine Hopkins

Worthless crap -- just say no

PEORIA -- Here' a great, provocative piece for the start of the holiday buying season, from In These Times, as reprinted by Alternet. 

In essence, it says people should buy durable, repairable goods, not cheap stuff that breaks and must be thrown away, as an environmental statement. It takes more energy to manufacture new items than to repair the same items.  It looks at the downside of that approach, as well, given the realities of global capitalism.

My take: As I write this, my 40-year-old Maytag washing machine is faithfully doing another load. Yes, we bought it in 1970!  It was made in the USA.

No fancy electronics to break down. It has metal parts, not plastic. It just keeps going. It's been repaired maybe twice in 40 years, both times minor things. A repairman told me several years ago that this model is no longer manufactured, but is cherished by many. Including me.

After a bad experience with a Sears dryer, I have vowed never to buy another major appliance with electronic components. It failed completely in less than a year, was replaced under warranty, then the electronics failed again.  I keep using it, but cannot use all its expensive features such as timed drying.  It's a dog. The lint filter doesn't even work right. I'm hoping it will quit permanently, to be replaced.

I will look for a reconditioned older dryer without electronics. Just mechanical controls. Towels and other big items go to a wooden drying rack in the basement, where the dehumidifier is running. They dry overnight, as if they were outside on a clothes line. 

Computers and other electronics:  They break down regularly. I just spent almost $100 to have an older HP computer repaired (its power pack mysteriously quit -- why?), after some said it couldn't be fixed. Now it's doing well again. It's an extra, but useful at times as a backup.

I still have a 90's model Gateway that works fine, and has a couple of features such as a very small font that newer computers lack. It's also a backup. 

When my cell phone quit holding a charge, I replaced it for an upgrade, but did not replace my husband's phone, which is still working well, since he hardly ever uses it. Money and energy saved.

Bonus with electronics:  the time saved trying to figure out how the new ones work.

Vehicles:  We just paid a skilled mechanic over $1,000 to rehab a 2000 Toyota Avalon that we had given to our daughter and her family a few years ago. That's a great car, even at 150,000 miles. It should run another 100,000 miles, the mechanic said. Replacing it would cost many thousands. The repairs were a birthday present.  It's a big, safe car with airbags for teen drivers.

We learned long ago to keep vehicles until it costs more to repair them than replace them. We have given them to our daughter's family with two teenage drivers. We and they have saved uncountable dollars on that plan, as well as helping save the planet. 

The article makes the point that people need to learn new attitudes:  that 'fashion' need not be followed, that vintage quality clothing and other items, including solid furniture, show one's taste and concern for the environment.  

That's a lesson worth imparting for the holidays.

    -- Elaine Hopkins

Illinois has dirty air, group says

From a news release:

Chicago, IL — The Baldwin Energy Complex coal-fired power plant in Baldwin is the dirtiest power plant in Illinois based on carbon dioxide (CO₂) pollution, ranking it as the 30th dirtiest plant in the country for 2007, according to a new analysis of government data released today by Environment Illinois. 

“It's time for the oldest and dirtiest power plants to clean up their act,” said Environment Illinois Citizen Outreach Director Brandi Beals.  “Coal-fired giants have dominated our electricity for decades and have been allowed to pollute without license.  In order to stop global warming and reap all the benefits of clean energy, we must require old coal-fired clunkers to meet modern standards for global warming pollution.”

Coal is the dirtiest of all fuels, but it supplies more of America's electricity than any other source.  Coal plants currently do not have to meet any global warming pollution standard, meaning that they are an unchecked contributor to global warming.  In fact, coal plants are the nation’s single largest source of global warming pollution.  

The growing impacts of global warming will impose threats to our safety and immense financial cost on our society, and most notably for Illinois, more frequent and severe heat waves, which will increase the number of people who suffer heat stress and stroke.  To avoid the worst effects of global warming, the science shows that the United States must cut its global warming pollution by 35 percent by 2020.

The new report from Environment Illinois, “America's Biggest Polluters: Carbon Dioxide Emissions from Power Plants in 2007,” looks at carbon dioxide emissions from power plants across the country using 2007 data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 2007 is the most recent year for which final data is available.  The report examines both age of and pollution from power plants to document the fact that we are reliant on an energy infrastructure that is both old and polluting.  The key findings include the following:

• Illinois ranked 6th nationwide for the most carbon dioxide pollution from power plants in 2007.
• Illinois is home to the 21st oldest operating power plant in the country.  The Havana plant in Havana (IL) has been operating for 60 years, built within a decade of the television first becoming commercially available.  Many of the plants in Illinois are decades-old.  In fact, 22 of Illinois’ 52 plants were built before 1980.
• The Baldwin Energy Complex power plant located in Baldwin in Illinois ranked as the 30th dirtiest power plant in the country in 2007 based on its carbon dioxide emissions.  The Baldwin Energy Complex plant has been in operation since 1970, before President Ford became President, and produces the same amount of global warming pollution in a year as almost two and a half million of today’s cars.

Nationally, the report shows that America's power is dominated by old and polluting plants, and that the oldest and dirtiest plants often go hand-in-hand.  Power plants built three decades ago or more produced 73 percent of the total global warming pollution from power plants in 2007.  Older power plants on average are dirtier per unit of energy than newer ones.

“America's power is both decades-old and dangerously polluting.  We’re reliant on technology that’s as old as the very first commercially available televisions.  Televisions have gone from black-and-white clunkers to super high-definition flat screens, but they’re still powered by the same dirty electricity,” Beals said.

“Clean energy holds the future of America—to make our nation energy independent, create millions of new jobs, and stop the worst effects of global warming.  In order to realize this clean energy future, coal plants must stop polluting with impunity,” continued Beals.

The U.S. Senate is slated to consider legislation in the next few months to establish the first-ever federal limits on global warming pollution and standards and incentives for clean energy.  In addition, EPA has proposed a rule to require coal plants and other large smokestack industries to use available technology to cut their global warming pollution when new facilities are constructed or existing facilities are significantly modified. 

However, the coal industry is fighting the transition to clean energy.

The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, a coal industry lobby group, spent at least $40 million dollars in 2008 alone – more than $100,000 a day – on lobbyists and advertising on energy.  Earlier this year, they hired lobbyists who forged phony constituent letters to Congress opposing action on clean energy.

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Environment Illinois is a state-based, citizen-funded environmental organization working for clean air, clean water, and open space.

 

Fur free Friday Nov. 27

PEORIA -- Peoria Area Voices for Animals holds its annual fur-free Friday demo/protest on Friday, Nov. 27, from 1:30-2:30 pm at Brom’s Furs at the Metro Centre.  People are invited to join them.

"Signs will be provided or feel free to bring your own," an e-mail says. 

It continues:  "This is a great opportunity to speak on behalf of the millions of animals who suffer immensely and die horrific violent deaths just so heartless people can drape themselves in death.

"Fur coats are no longer popular among enlightened individuals, but the general public doesn’t seem to realize that the same suffering and death goes into the fur trim that so many people are wearing around their necks and wrists.

"Please join us and help educate the public about the inherent violence and cruelty of any amount of fur and help us urge everyone to shop compassionately this holiday season.

"Please don’t park in the Metro Centre as Peoria Police officers moonlighting as Metro Centre security will make you move your vehicle."

See http://www.AnimalRightsPeoria.org for information about this group.

Health system reform: common sense

PEORIA -- The US House has passed a health system reform bill.  The US Senate has decided to debate its own bill, though passage is no slam dunk.  Now what?

Have they all gone mad? There are simple, common sense ways to reform the nation's disastrous health system. (The awful statistics can be found under previous posts in the category 'national politics.')

Here's a simple reform plan. It doesn't involve abortion politics or a new public option.

1.  MEDICARE:  Immediately expand Medicare eligibility back to age 60.  Make it voluntary to all, regardless of other insurance status or none. They pay what today's Medicare recipients pay.  Close the prescription drug gap. Negotiate drug prices. Pay for it by cutting out the excessive payments to Medicare Advantage. Let the insurance companies make up for the loss by expanding into the supplemental insurance market.  Impact:  millions will retire, opening up new jobs for the unemployed. Millions more will be covered at last.  Add dental coverage.

2. MEDICAID:  Expand eligibility as proposed in the US House bill, immediately. Expand federally subsidized clinics, which include dental now.

3.  INSURANCE COMPANIES:  Regulate their coverage on a national scale.  No exemptions for self-funded plans. No underwriting allowed to ban preexisting conditions, or to drop the sick, or discriminate against  women or older people. Standardize claim forms.  Cost?  Free to the government. Enforcement?  US Justice Department in federal court, civil and criminal penalties. (This might employ more lawyers until the companies see the government means it.) Require them to participate in a national exchange where anyone could buy a policy at group rates.

4. FINANCING:  Tax wealthy Americans. making more than $500,000 a year.  No taxes on so-called Cadillac policies or any other such nonsense.  No mandatory purchase of insurance policies or subsidies to pay for them. (If the Democrats enact that, they can expect to lose several future elections.)  

This is a great first start. It can be refined, as it plays out.  Case closed. Now on to global warming.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Charter school forum: news and debate

PEORIA -- Here's the great divide on a new Peoria School District 150 charter school:  should the district's resources go into the proposed math, science and technology school, presumably at the expense of other students?

The proponents of the charter school claim that what works at the charter school will be replicated in other schools.  Skeptics don't believe that, and see it as just another way to skim the cream off the district, further impoverishing neighborhood schools in Peoria.

District 150's board is considering approval of a math, science and technology charter school, a middle school to be expanded into a high school, to open in the fall of 2010, or 2011, its proponents said.  They are former District 150 administrator Cindy Fischer and Illinois Central College vice president Vicky Stewart, who serve on the Peoria Charter School Initiative board.

The plan includes students to be selected by lottery from those that apply, beginning with grades 5 – 7 then expanding yearly into high school. The plan contemplates a school with 600 students. 

"There will be a culture of academic excellence and accountability, strict discipline, high expectations for behavior," Fischer said.

Stewart added that the school will include a college prep focus with double classes for math and language. Also a pre-engineering curriculum, stronger high school graduation requirements, mandatory tutoring and internships will be included. 

In other words, these are the few students being groomed for good jobs in Peoria.

The District 150 Board will meet on Dec. 21 to hear the proposal, then presumably will set a date to vote on whether to approve it.   Fischer and Stewart were vague about its financing, saying that state of Illinois funds and/or grant funds would provide some of the money, and District 150 funds would supply the rest.

Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) representatives Tom McLaughlin and Sharon Teefey presented alternative views.  McLaughlin said the union is not opposed to charter schools "under the right conditions."  But "those conditions don't exist in Peoria."

The District 150 Board "just voted to close a high school" Woodruff High School with 900 students, despite "a huge public outcry," he said. "If a charter school is approved, that will OK the establishment of a fourth high school within six years. Is this appropriate when closing a high school" and several elementary schools? "Does it make sense to open another school?" he asked. Where will the money come from? "If we had the corporate community (proponents of the charter school) support that has been focused on this effort" focused on the entire school district "would we be seeing different results?" he asked

McLaughlin said the proposed charter school "will segregate by talent" District 150 students. Only the motivated, with family support, will apply, he said. The school will be successful on its test scores, he said, because other students lacking the brains and talent will drop out.

He also noted that teachers have not been a part of the planning on the charter school initiative.

Afterward, school activist and former teachers union head Terry Knapp, who was in the audience, said that's what happened with the Edison schools, where students with low test scores have been eased out and sent back to neighborhood schools. Edison and another management company want the business of running the proposed charter school, he said. That's a form of privitization of the public schools.

Fischer said that "every teacher will be required to make phone calls and visit parents in the home" to provide support to the students.  She said when she was principal at Northmore School, when students from Warner Homes were bussed there, she soon learned that 1/3 or the parents lacked cars and phones, so programs were developed to reach out to them at Valeska Hinton school, and the parents did get involved.

McLaughlin said that and other plans for the charter school can be done in traditional school settings.

Asked whether the charter school will take away talented students from neighborhood schools, causing them to lose students, Stewart responded that "families are already moving" out of District 150, and this initiative and others in the District will slow that.

The district has lost 10,000 students since the 1970s, she said. At ICC, 77 percent of the students from its 10-county district do not meet college level standards for math.

"Charter schools are a mechanism" Stewart said, to change that. "We have developed a new model for high performance."

Regional Schools Superintendent Gerry Brookhart said he and others are working on a $400 million federal grant application, and charter schools are part of the grant. 

My take: The charter school proponents have many good ideas for that school, especially creating an environment that rewards academic achievement.  That works well in elite private schools.

But as McLaughlin said, why can't these same principles be applied to all District 150 schools? 

"The idea is to create better schools for all students," said Sharon Teefey, legislative director for the IFT.  "The core values of public education must be dealt with -- based on democracy and equal access. Are we making all public schools better?"

District 150 has wasted millions on programs such as Edison, whose successful techniques also could be replicated without paying royalties to that company.  It seems poised to do to the same thing with this charter school, therefore providing unequal education to all students. Some get better schools, smaller classes, more time and tutoring in school, while others do not. 

Now it's raising taxes while cutting programs, increasing class size and closing Woodruff High School, a terrible mistake for the community as a whole. The charter school proponents contend they are planning for the future, and cite statistic and theories to back up their ideas.

But data can be used to prove anything.  How can the support and/or alienation of the Woodruff  community be quantified? Did anyone in District 150 seriously look at ways to keep Woodruff open while saving money elsewhere, including getting rid of Edison? Why hasn't the district been downsized gradually as enrollment dropped? And what a slap at the Woodruff group to open another high school within six years!

In short, can public education in Peoria be saved?  Or will a few elite students continue to benefit from elite programs while the rest move out, drop out, or graduate with low test scores but somehow survive and even thrive as adults, if the larger economy ever recovers. And that's the key.

The same mindset that has busted unions and living wage pay for workers now wants this charter school to save education. But education rises and falls with the economy. If ordinary students -- not talented geniuses -- see no future for themselves, why should they waste time with math, science, or even English? Better to have fun today and let the devil take tomorrow. 

Peoria needs to discuss these issues along with the charter school proposal.

 -- Elaine Hopkins 

"Green HIghways' an Oxymoron?

PEORIA -- The Heart of Illinois Sierra Club hosted two speakers on 'green highways' at its Nov. 18 meeting.

New highways inevitably destroy farmland, forests and wetlands. That's not green. But in keeping with current trends, highway advocates are hoping to greenwash their road building. "We now realize we need to be respectful of the environment," Mike Lewis of the Illinois Department of Transportation told the group.

He discussed the new projects under consideration in the Peoria area -- especially the so-called eastern bypass, to be built through Tazewell and Woodford counties, filled with -- you guessed it -- forests, wetlands and farmland.

The good news, for environmentalists, is that it likely won't be built for another decade. IDOT hasn't even determined the route, he said.

Asked why it should be built at all, he responded "it's a big question and (IDOT) is wrestling with it. There's no overriding need, no congestion," but "if this is what you want for the quality of life...."

Federal funding agencies need a "purpose and need statement" for the proposal, he said. Asked whether it would be built if Caterpillar, Inc. closes its Mossville factory, he responded that if Caterpillar closes Mossville, "we' don't need it." 

Melissa Eaton of the Peoria Tri-County Regional Planning Commission spoke about the Long Range Transportation Plan now being developed by her agency.  About 50 people at a recent public meeting voted on the eastern bypass, with 80 percent saying it would be good for growth and economic development, she said.  But a large number also expressed concern about it, she said. 

The agency is taking e-mailed comments on the eastern bypass, to Lindsay Wallace, through its website, but lacks the technical skills to put out a web survey of the public, she said.

Lewis of IDOT also discussed improvements to a 35-mile stretch of Illinois Route 29, from Illinois Route 6 in Peoria to I-180, then on to I-80.  That road would be improved over the existing Route 29, he said, with "a freeway around Chillicothe." It takes 1,000 acres of new property. (Bye, bye birdies and other wildlife.)

Planning is underway, he said, but there's no funding for construction. Asked why that roadwork is planned, he said about 10,000 cars use the route daily between Chillicothe and Sparland, and traffic is expected to increase.

Asked whether the costs of these roads have been studied and compared with putting the same funds into other forms of transit, Lewis ducked the question.

He told how IDOT is recycling, planting seedlings, using more efficient lighting and signage, and promoting biofuels, as examples of environmental efforts.

Eaton spoke on the green highway movement elsewhere, as discussed on a website.  It documents various green techniques, she said, such as wetlands for storm water management, use of recycled products, protection of the ecosystem and wildlife passages.

A new highway in Maryland spent $370 million, 15 percent of the total project, on environmental initiatives, she said.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

UN program Nov. 19 free to students

PEORIA -- Here's a nice gesture from the Peoria Area World Affairs Council: its program on the United Nations is now free to high school and college students, and presumably their teachers who bring groups of students. 

The event, "The United States and the United Nations" is at 7 p.m. on Thursday, November 19 at Barrack's Cater Inn, 1224 Pioneer Parkway in Peoria.

The speaker, Gillian Sorensen, was the Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations under Kofi Anan. She has retired to the post of Senior Advisor to the UN Foundation.

"Her high level experience and access will provide an exciting background for our discussion of the often contentious relations between the US and the UN" the council says.

Students should arrive by 6:45 p.m., and the council would like to know in advance if possible how many will attend, says council executive director Angela Weck, who added others can call her to register, or register at:

http://artstix.artspartners.net 

Angela can be reached at (309) 677-2454, or (309) 645-2580 (cell) or through these websites: 

www.pawac.org <http://www.pawac.org/ 

pawac@bradley.edu <mailto:pawac@bradley.edu

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Charter school forum/debate on Nov. 21

PEORIA --  The Peoria Area League of Women Voters is sponsoring a public forum on charter schools, at 9 a.m. on Sat. Nov. 21 at Peoria Castle Lodge (formerly Jumers) 117 N. Western Ave.

The group asks provocative questions to frame the event: "Will this 'fix' District 150 or cost money and hurt other schools? How will it be financed?"

The event comes as the Peoria School District 150 board is considering approval of a math, science and technology charter school, a middle school to be expanded into a high school, to open next fall.

Panelists include:

               Cindy Fisher and Vicky Stewart, to explain the plans of the Peoria Charter School Initiative, beginning with grades 5 – 7 then expanding yearly into high school. The plan contemplates a school with 600 students, with the students chosen by lottery from those who apply.

               Gerry Brookhart, the Regional Superintendent of Schools, to explain what charter schools are and the restrictions placed on them by the state of Illinois.

               Tom McLauglin and Sharon Teefey from the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) to present their alternative view on charter schools.

               The presentations will be followed by a question and answer session.

The event is free and open to the public. An optional light buffet breakfast for $8 takes place at 8:30 a.m. -30-